Assumptions
by Paige Turner ME
Summary: Post-Embraceable You. What happened after Woody left Jordan's office.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own CJ or any of its characters. This is an idea that wouldn't leave me alone after I had seen 'Embraceable You' (I believe that's the ep. name.)

A/N: This could be a stand-alone fic or the first in a set of chapters. I'm still toying with the idea of continuing. Let me know what you think.

Jordan's POV

As I watched him walk out of the office it was all I could do not to yell after him. I didn't exactly tell him the truth when he first walked in. I hadn't been about to call him. I had already called his apartment, thinking he'd be home. And being the coward I am I left a message on his machine.

_"Woody! Hey, it's Jordan. I was just calling because…well I just wanted to say that first of all I love the balloons. Especially the ones with the smaller balloons inside…okay I'm rambling on. What I really called for was to say that I'm sorry. I overreacted to your gift. I was just scared, you know. Nobody has ever bought me a ring before, let alone a diamond ring."_

_"What I'm really trying to say is, that if it isn't too late of course, and if you wouldn't mind is if I could change my mind? It was a beautiful ring, and it was really sweet of you to think of me, I'd be crazy if I didn't accept it. So…I guess, just give me call or something, maybe we could have dinner or something. Umm...that's it, I guess, Bye."_

I was about to tell him the same thing before he cut me off and muttered the phrase, 'We're better off as friends'. Talk about ironic. After three years of saying the same thing to not only him, but to myself, it hurt to hear them this time. Maybe it was because they were coming out of his mouth, or maybe because I was finally ready to step up to the plate and move past 'friends'.

Now not only was I faced with the hurt from Woody's words brought on by my own actions, but I was to face the utter humiliation when Woody checked his machine. I felt the tears stinging my eyes. Woody had been quick to dismiss any conversation about 'us'. Even as I tried to reassure him that I wasn't pushing him away this time, he said what I always feared most, 'I give up'.

I quickly wiped away the stubborn tears that fell down my cheeks and force myself not to cry. I had gotten myself into this situation by my own reluctance to risk getting hurt. Woody's little remark about the pot calling the kettle was true. I was determined after that point to consider 'growing up' and letting go. And after I talked to Nigel I was even more assured that accepting that ring was the right thing to do.

Before I leave, I turn off the lights in my office and look around the dark room and to the balloons that still sit in the corner as a painful reminder of what I could've had.


	2. Woody's POV

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I really appreciate it. Well it looks like this fic will continue after all. It will probably have a total of 3 or 4 parts, I'm not sure yet. We'll see how it goes. Thanks again!

Woody's POV:

I wearily made my way to the garage and pulled out the ring I'd picked out days before for Jordan. Last night I held the ring while visions of her possible reactions went through my head. Most of them were happy. I'd see her face light up and then she'd throw her arms around me, thanking me. Although I did see some not so happy scenerios, I never saw her not accepting it at all.

Of course I knew the possibility of Jordan saying what she did and that she wasn't ready for a relationship, but I fully expected her to accept the gift for what it was. A gift, even with other intentions, that was still meant for her. She'll never know how much it hurt to take the nicely wrapped box back into my possession.

As I'm driving home I can't help but remember the hour I spent pacing the jewelry store looking for the perfect gift for Jordan. I had originally set my mind to a nice pair of earrings that she'd enjoy. My plans quickly changed though when I talked to the sales-lady. I found myself describing the difficult 'relationship' we had and the older woman smiled and said I needed to do something to get Jordan's attention.

Unfortunately my plan wasn't successful. Now I wonder if I should even keep trying. Even though I was angry with her for not giving this a chance, I can still see the look on her face right before I walked out of her office. I knew she was going to 'let me down' easy and give me the friends speech, but I beat her to the punch. The look on her face before I turned to leave was of pure hurt. Whether it was hurt because she felt pity for me or because I pulled the 'we're better off as friends' line first, I'll probably never know.

I unlocked the door to my apartment and threw my coat on the couch as I walked in. Last night I dreamed Jordan would be coming home with me with that damned diamond ring on her finger. The blinking red light on my answering machine brought me out of my thoughts.

My finger slammed down on the play button. The pre-recorded voice filled my empty apartment.

"One new message. Sent today at 6:37 pm."

I looked down at my watch and noticed it was just now ten after seven. 6:37, I thought. Right about the time I reached the morgue and had that fateful discussion with Jordan.

_"Woody! Hey, it's Jordan."_

Her voice sounded upbeat. Not at all how I pictured her a mere 30 minutes ago. Then I realized this must have been before we spoke. When she had said she was just calling me I assumed that she hadn't actually dialed because of my sudden appearance. I was preparing myself for the speech she had probably wanted to give me at her office when I stopped to actually hear her message.

_"I was just calling because…well I just wanted to say that first of all I love the balloons. Especially the ones with the smaller balloons inside…okay I'm rambling on. What I really called for was to say that I'm sorry. I overreacted to your gift. I was just scared, you know. Nobody has ever bought me a ring before, let alone a diamond ring." _

_"What I'm really trying to say is, that if it isn't too late of course, and if you wouldn't mind is if I could change my mind? It was a beautiful ring, and it was really sweet of you to think of me, I'd be crazy if I didn't accept it. So…I guess, just give me call or something, maybe we could have dinner or something. Umm...that's it, I guess, Bye."_

I stood there stunned. She wanted to accept the ring? Dinner? Does that mean she wants to explore a real relationship? The smile on my face quickly faded when I realized what I had done. I had gone to her office and effectively squished the idea of a relationship between us. In my haste to keep myself from getting hurt even more I told her we were better off just being friends.

Now I know why Jordan was so skittish about relationships. She didn't want to be hurt. Just like I didn't want to be hurt, so I ran. Not in the literal sense like I knew she had done before, but I emotionally ran and told her we should be friends. I walked out of her office without a backwards glance, not knowing that I had just left her there hurt because she'd finally changed her mind and after I decided to give up.


	3. Woody's POV 2

Woody's POV

I had to do something fast. If I waited until tomorrow Jordan would have already lined up a hundred reasons to change her mind again and agree with my idiotic idea of staying just friends.

I picked up the phone and dialed her cell. I let it ring seven times before I heard her voice mail pick up.

"_You've reached Jordan Cavanaugh, I'm away at the moment so leave a message."_

"Jordan, it's Woody. I…I…just call me if you get this okay? Please, it's important."

I quickly hung up the phone and grabbed my coat and hurried out the door. By the time I reached Pearle St. it was close to 8:00pm. I caught sight of her car on my way into her building and thanked God she was here.

When I reached her door I raised my hand to knock on her door. I quickly went over the speech I had rehearsed on the drive over and held my breath waiting for the red door to swing open.

I heard her faint voice, "Be right there."

I heard some slight rustling behind the door. I could feel the sweat on my palms as I watched the handle turn. By the look on her face I could tell she was shocked to see me.

"Woody? What are you doing here?"

Even though I heard the question she asked I ignored it. The cardboard boxes scattered across her living room held my attention. She was going to run.

I looked at her. "You're leaving."

I saw the confusion on her face that reflected my own feelings, "What?"

Before I could point to the boxes she looked back and sheepishly made eye contact with me once again.

"Oh. I know what this looks like, but I'm just donating some old clothes to St. Inez. Paul, uh asked me last month and I just haven't gotten around to it."

I nodded with relief. I wasn't going to screw up this time, I was going to be honest with her and beg her forgiveness. Even though I knew none of this was entirely my fault I still felt like a heel. I shouldn't have pushed her so far this fast.

Before I could speak Jordan cut me off, "I assume you got my message." I noticed her reluctance to make eye contact with me this time.

"Yeah, I did."

She started to speak again, but I cut her off quickly. "I know that last time I cut you off before you could say what was on your mind, and I know that I'm doing it again, but please just let say something here."

I watched her brown eyes connect with mine as she nodded, "Okay."

I took a deep breath and began, "Jordan, I know that I said we'd probably be better off as friends. But, I was lying when I said that. I think we'd be great together. I mean yeah, we probably would want to kill each other from time to time, but what couple doesn't."

"I just think that we should a chance. We could move as slow as you wanted and if I started to pressure you into anything serious you could drop my ass at a moments notice."

Her smile put me at ease, despite the fact I felt like I was about to resort back to my stutter I had as a boy.

"I guess I just stole a line from your book. I didn't want to get hurt so I tried to remove myself from the situation. I'm sorry, Jordan. I didn't mean what I said before and if you still feel the way you said you did on my machine…I'd like you to have this."

I held out the pink box I had given her this morning. I looked into her eyes that were wide with shock. She had been unusually quiet. I hoped it was a good sign.


	4. Jordan POV

Well this is it, the final chapter. Thank you everyone for your reviews, they were great and really kept me going! I hope you guys enjoyed! Thanks again!

Jordan's POV

I stared at the tiny ring box that started off this chain of events. I knew when I opened the door and saw him standing there that he'd gotten my message. What I didn't expect was the speech. After our earlier conversation I was ready to accept that I'd pushed him away for good. Now here he was right in front of me offering what I had thought I'd lost, a chance to take a risk, with him.

I was ready. I wasn't going to let the chance pass me by again. I wanted to accept the birthday gift whole-heartedly and as I opened my mouth to say 'Yes', I was horrified to hear myself say…

"I lied. I am donating the clothes, but not because Paul asked me to…I can't fit into them anymore because I've gained weight."

My hand flew over my mouth. I can't believe I just said that. It all came out in a rush. Chalk it up to nerves or an old defense mechanism to change the subject when things got to serious, but there it was. Now I'm standing here looking like an idiot. Woody is still standing there with his hand held out to me offering the ring. But the look on his face is no longer hopeful…it's a blank look of confusion.

The corners of his mouth curved slightly upward and then turned into a full fledge smile. Followed by hearty laughter.

"Jordan if you've gained any weight it's in all the right places."

My hands covered my face in an attempt to hide my embarrassment. "God, I can't believe I said that."

I dropped my arms back to my side and looked at Woody. His hand was still offering me the ring. I looked from him to the box and back to him. I inhaled deeply and took the box from his hands.

I could still see him from the corner of my eye as I opened the box yet again, and stared at the beautiful ring. He really did have good taste in jewelry. I carefully lifted the tiny ring from its velvet box, and handed it towards Woody.

His smile quickly dropped from his face. I hastily reassured him by asking, "Could you put it on for me?"

I've never felt so good as I did that moment. His eyes lit up to the brightest blue I think I've ever seen and I don't think I've ever heard a man giggle either until tonight.

"Sure!" he exclaimed.

I watched him carefully slide the ring on my right ring finger. His touch was warm and soft as he held my hand. As I watched his finger trace the ring on my finger I heard him whisper 'thank you'.

"Woody, I really am sorry for the way I acted today…"

He held up his free hand, "Jordan don't worry about it. We both made some mistakes today."

"I just don't want us to get hurt and lose what we already have."

"Then all we have to do is take this one day at a time. I'll go as slow as you want Jordan. I wouldn't want to lose anything either."

By now I noticed that he was still standing in my hallway. "Do you want to come in?"

He looked down the hall and I realized he hadn't noticed where we were standing either. He was too caught up in the moment to care.

"Yeah, I'd like that. How about you finish packing those clothes and we can drop them off on the way to dinner."

"Okay."

I finished packing the last of the clothes while Woody wandered around my apartment looking at nothing in particular. He stopped pacing long enough to pick up something.

"Hey, Jordan."

"Yeah?" I looked over to see him holding up one of my shirts to his body, like someone would if they wanted to compare sizes. It looked ridiculously funny, like a scrap of fabric compared to his larger, well-built frame.

"I think we better skip dinner, by the looks of this you'll be in a size 5 soon."

I could tell by the tone of his voice he was joking. If I had been any other woman I might have taken offense.

"Shut up, Woody." I tossed the small box containing a few pairs of jeans and some old shirts at him.

He dropped the shirt he had been holding and scrambled to just barely catch the box. He gave me that exasperated look that I loved so much.

I looped my arm around his elbow and led him out the door, locking it behind me. I paused as I turned the key to watch the light glitter off the diamonds in my new ring. Woody must have seen what had caught my attention. He leaned his head down and whispered close to my ear, "It looks beautiful on you."

I looked up quickly and noticed our lips only inches apart. I tilted my chip up and brushed my lips to his quickly in a chaste kiss.

"Thank you. Not just for the ring, but for everything."

He grinned, "You're welcome."

"Come on, let's get some dinner."

We walked down the hallway my arm still linked with his. It felt almost perfect.

"Jordan, I think these clothes are heavier than you are."

Okay, so maybe it WAS perfect.

FIN


End file.
